EFFECTIVE TEACHING METHODS FOR LARGE CLASSES

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Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences Education, Vol. 24, No. 2, Fall/Winter, 2006 13 EFFECTIVE TEACHING METHODS FOR LARGE CLASSES Jason M. Carpenter University of South Carolina Colleges and universities in the United States are experiencing significant growth in student enrollment ( Department of Education, 2005). Concurrently, enrollment in family and consumer sciences-related programs is growing. As a result, family and consumer science educators face the daunting challenge of TEACHING larger CLASSES while maintaining/improving the quality of instruction and subsequent value delivered to students. This study uses descriptive and inferential statistical techniques to examine the effectiveness of five TEACHING METHODS (lecture, lecture/discussion combination, jigsaw, case study, team project) in a LARGE class setting.

The research questions guiding the study were “What teaching methods are effective in the large class environments?” and “What are students’ perceptions of these methods?” Using student learning outcomes as the criteria for effectiveness, several commonly-used teaching methods (lecture, lecture/discussion combination, jigsaw, case study,

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